1. Related Technical Fields
Related technical fields include navigation apparatuses, and more particularly, a navigation apparatuses providing a moving three-dimensional image on a route guidance screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, navigation apparatuses for aiding in the navigation of vehicles have become very popular. Such navigation apparatuses search for a route from a departing location to a destination, detect a location of a host vehicle by means of a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite and/or a Gyro sensor, and display the route to destination and the current location on a map. It is important for such a navigation apparatus to provide an easily viewable display to a driver of the vehicle. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-318381 discloses the technology to generate a moving three-dimensional image simulating the scene driver views.
In the case of providing guidance on a two-dimensional map, a driver needs to interpret the two-dimensional map and compare it to the actual three-dimensional scene outside the vehicle. With the moving three-dimensional image, a route is drawn on a three-dimensional map drawing (including, e.g., buildings). Based on the three-dimensional map drawing intersection guidance and so forth can be performed. With the moving three-dimensional image, the moving three-dimensional image and the actual three-dimensional scene can be easily compared. Furthermore, with the technology in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-318381, if the route and buildings are overlapped, the buildings that overlap the route are displayed translucently.